Thursday, February 27, 2014

Ready to move on to the single crochet stitch? Well, if you are knitter, and are looking for a guide on how to single crochet from a knitting perspective, today is your lucky day!

The single crochet stitch is just like binding off in knitting. Do you know how to bind off when knitting? Then you can single crochet!

Think. What do you do when you bind off when knitting? You take a live stitch, knit into it, and then bind it off. You do the same to the next stitch, and the next, and all the stitches on your needles until they are all bound off.

The process is the same for the single crochet stitch. Except each time you are going to
1: Create a live stitch
2: "Knit" into the stitch
3: Bind it off

Lets break this process. You should have your chain of knitted and bound off stitches from part 1. Mine looks like this.

Now, slide your knitting needle out of that loop and insert your crochet hook. I am using a 5mm stainless steel crochet hook. I prefer the metal hooks--even through I abhor metal knitting needles. You insert your crochet hook from right to left. The head of the hook should enter the work from the right and reemerge on the left.

Before we start single crocheting, we have to set up the row. You will do this at the beginning of every new row. In crochet, this is called "chain one and turn"

1) Yarn over on your crochet hook, and pull this yarn over through the loop on your hook. Now, turn your work.

2) You may need to rotate your work a little to see the stitches we will be working. We work from right to left just like knitting.

Here is a closer picture of the stitches with my hook entered into the first stitch and my work turned after my chain and turn:

In crochet you will enter your hook under BOTH lips of a stitch when starting. The two "lips" count as one.This is me entering the stitch. You enter the stitch from front (side facing you) to back (side facing away from you) every time.

So, to single crochet, enter your hook into a stitch (UNDER both loops). Yarn over, and pull that yarn over through. Now you have a live stitch on your needle! Now we need to "knit" it and then bind it off, since we bind off every stitch when crocheting. Yarn over again, and pull it though the first stitch on your needle to "knit one" and then through the second stitch to "bind it off".

And that, my friends, is single crochet.

Repeated from above, you will (after your chain one and turn at the beginning of the row)

1: Create a live stitch by inserting your hook into a stitch, yarning over, and pulling that yarn over through the stitch you just inserted your hook into.

2: "Knit" into the stitch by yarning over on your crochet hook, and pulling through the next stitch.

3: Last, bind it off by pulling the stitch closet to your hook head though the last stitch.

Do the single crochet stitch in every stitch for 10 single crochet stitches. If you want to keep going, at the end of the row, chain one and turn, and then single crochet on the way back. The second row is easier. Just remember to chain one at the beginning of each new row, before turning then turn your work, and resume single crochet (SC for abbreviation, just so you know)

Just a mention: your chain one never counts as a stitch. Do not crochet into the chain one. Also, all other crochet stitches build from this stitch, so most of the work is done!

FYI: I am holding my working yarn in my left hand. If you usually hold your working yarn in your right hand, this may be an adjustment for you.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Welcome to the knitters guide to crochet! And banish those fears, because crochet is easy. Sure, it requires a certain amount of perseverance, but if you've already mastered knitting then you are halfway there! Really.

For today's lesson, I will be going over how to form your starting chain.

First of all, you normally form your chain using a crochet hook and a slip knot. You then yarn over on your hook, and pull that through your slip knot to form "chains".

We will not be doing it this way.

I found as a beginner that mastering the chain is the hardest part of crochet. A pattern would tell me to "chain 18" and so I would. That part is easy. But then you have to crochet into that chain. And I have a VERY hard time seeing the stitches and the holes where I am supposed to slip my needle. Of course, this causes my entire project to be wrong from the get-go. Repeated attempts on "the chain" just left me very irritated. And sadly, without completing the chain correctly I could not complete any projects. As a knitter, forming the chain is the last part of crochet that I learned. I recommend waiting to learn this step to all knitters-turned-crocheters. As a beginner it is simply easier to knit your starting chain. I still (mostly) knit my starting chain!

For this exercise, I am using 5.0mm knitting needles and worsted weight yarn. For the next step (holding your crochet hook) you will also need a 5.0mm crochet hook.

How to Knit your Crochet Chain

1) Cast on 11 stitches using a crochet or long tail cast on on your needles.

2) Now, bind off those stitches until you are left with one stitch on your needles.

3) This leaves you with "10" crochet spaces. A crochet "space" looks like this. You should see a long line of them. We will further go over this in the next lesson when we start single crocheting.

Your fabric may curl slightly, don't worry, it will work itself out. If you are OCD, to make it not curl in this step you can bind off with a larger knitting needle.

4) FYI: don't worry about the "missing" stitch. If a crochet pattern tells you to chain 40, you simply cast on 41 stitches on your needle using the crochet or long tail cast on, and then bind them off until one stitch is left so you have 40. (casting on 40 for knitting will give you 39 when you bind off, so if following a pattern cast on a extra stitch. )

How to Hold your Crochet Hook

1) I hold my crochet hook just like I hold my knitting needle, in my right hand. When we start crocheting, just hold it as naturally as possible. You can Google other ways to hold it if you want inspiration, but I found that just holding it like I hold my knitting needle works for me!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Are you a knitter? Have you always wanted to crochet? Well, next week I'm going to explain crochet from the perspective of knitting.

Yes, I'll wait while you cheer. :P

Learning crochet was really difficult as a knitter. The style and movement of crochet is very different then what knit work calls for. But as I learned I noticed many similarities, many things that, if taught through the eyes of a knitter, would have helped make the transition easier for me.

Thus starting next week I will be publishing a knitters guide to crochet. You, too, can learn!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

All my life I've lived under this idea that beauty fades with age. I'm 27 now, and I can faithfully say my body is not the same as it was when I was 17. Some things are better, but some things are worse.

I don't know exactly when I started believing this lie. I don't know when I let this lie take over my perception of reality, my perception of myself.

Was it when, as a teenager, many older women would look enviously at my body, making comments like "Oh, how I wish I was young again" and "Oh, to be beautiful and youthful!" And, in the next breath they would tell me these years were going to be the best of my life, the most memorable, the most lovely.

Or, was it when I started noticing how negatively older women viewed their bodies? After church, I would always overhear discussions about wrinkles, sagging arms, and weight gain. Or every so often, about husbands who left their wives for younger women. Prettier women. Women without crows feet or stretch marks.

Part of it, I think, is how many "anti-aging" products are offered to the older generation. Products to make older younger, to smooth out the wrinkles and turn back the clock. I always wondered why we women need such products. I mean, men get wrinkles. Yet, for women, somehow age--the number behind our many years--is a symbol of shame.

Hollywood ships this lie as well. From the magazines that shame the way a women looks, to the news sites that consistently criticize "weight gain" and cellulite, women are always under scrutiny. And young or old, we can never measure up to an overuse of Photoshop. And, if they were honest, I'm sure many celebrities would confess to undergoing plastic surgery in order to "keep up appearances," by way of a younger, tighter body.

In a world where women are mostly judged by their appearances, and appearances ranked by society--it's got to be stressful when society suddenly determines that said appearances are waning.

For example, many of the older women in my life now protest shopping. Nothing fits me. They say, mumbling when I ask. I'm too old. Fashion is for the young. I could never wear anything like that, it wouldn't look good on me at all. I mean, just look at my hips.

I think to myself how sad it will be when one day I am suddenly too old for shopping.

I think it's all this and more that has taught me to fear growing old, because for many years I've lived in a quiet fear of just that. I've looked at every stretch mark as ugly, every emerging wrinkle as inevitable evidence of the decline of my beauty, and shuddered.

I no longer want to live this lie.

Because age does not an ugly women make. Age does not define my beauty nor should it define the way the world views me. And I'm not going to let it. I mean, I can't stop myself from getting older. And I'm actually quite excited about it now. I don't ever want to be ashamed of a wrinkle or two (or ten) and I am absolutely never going to quit experimenting with fashion just because I've gained a few pounds!

I hate the evil in our society that would tell a women this. A society that even tells men younger is hotter, that rewards men for landing a sexy, younger girlfriend. I mean, there is nothing wrong with being sexy, but that term is not age-restricted.

I hate it that most magazines always try and make older actors look younger. And younger actors look flawless. Whats wrong with the way they look now? Why can't they be loved and revered and beautiful just as they are?

I want to see this outlook change, but I'm not quite sure how to proceed.

Friday, February 21, 2014

1) When the font on a pinterest pin is too small to read. So I click on it...only to get a blurry picture that never loads. And then I have to go the rest of my life wondering what it said. Forever. Wondering.

2) Or, I do enlarge said pin, and can finally understand it, only to find out that, upon further inspection, the link attached to the picture leads to nowhere. Great. I wanted to buy/make/claim this idea as my own, and now I can't. You had one job. One job.

3) Spammy Comments on Instagram. Specifically spammy comments where the person then apologizes for said spamming. What?

4) Spammy comments on youtube. I don't think I have to elaborate here.

5) The fact that when I think about writing/finishing my book(s) (something I really want to do) a very big picture of blank nothingness appears in my head and I suddenly have a desire to do something, anything else.

6) Twitter rants about race/politics/feminism/ OR THE OLYMPICS that end up just being two people yelling at each other. I left facebook because of this. Why do you do this to me?

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

One day I was innocently browsing etsy (yeah, thats how it always starts, right?) when I came across this adorable totoro crochet backpack pattern from Hello Happy. I will admit to drooling a bit and searching to see if she sold finished items. She did, but they were way out of my price range--but I could afford her pattern.

I really really wanted my very own totoro carrying device! But I am a beginner at crochet, and this pattern was marked intermediate and it uses the magic loop and crochet in the round and requires knowledge of amigurumi methods. And I know nothing of any of those things. What are these things? I don't know, and my brain apparently didn't care, because I bought the pattern anyway. Because Totoro. And backpack. Need I say more? Well, I googled everything I wasn't familiar with and went slow and redid parts and learned a lot. Oh, and I ended up making mine into a side bag.

Anyway, I love love love my totoro bag times a million red hot suns! Squee! Also, Hello Happy is my new favorite crochet pattern maker because her steps were clear and very easy to follow even for me, a beginner.

Now if you will excuse me I'm going to dance in the woods with my new bag.

Monday, February 17, 2014

So. The time comes in every knitters life when you want to surmount the unthinkable and knit a garment. A large garment. Possibly a garment with cables. Involving math, because no two humans are the same size, and wow, why are my hips so big?

And of course you don't want to do it alone. The vashta nerada might get you. Well, technically mostly because you might give up. Large projects are started with the greatest of intentions but are hastily set aside for something easier and smaller like a hat. Everybody likes hats! And you can finish a hat in one day, but a sweater? Ain't nobody got time for that. Thus...I'm introducing my very first:

Why a knit-a-long, you ask? Because, once in your life the overwhelming compulsion to knit an sweater with your own two hands out of 1,800 yards of cerulean blue yarn will overcome you. And it's good to have a support group.

The following is an real life example from a true, honest outsider who will attempt to give some insight on what you and your loved ones may experience should you choose to embark upon this quest.

Hi, my name is Brian. I am married to a wonderful, caring wife who cooks great meals and always showers before I come home. But last month she decided to knit a sweater! I never knew life could be so complicated. Now there is yarn in the bedroom. And my laundry is piling up because of something she calls "frogging". What is this frogging? Why does it seem to take up such large quantities of time that should be devoted to other things, like dinner? Last week we tried to have a movie night, and I couldn't even turn the lights off because that would put my wife behind on her knitting schedule...not to mention snuggling. There is nothing quite like attempting to snuggle with ones wife and ending up tangled in a mass of blue wooly yarn and then having said wife in tears because apparently tangles are not cohesive to the knitting process. Having put up with this fancy of my dear, wonderful wife for almost two years now, I regret to say I cannot, in your best interest, recommended it to you. *

*individual results may vary. Please see back of package for further instructions. Tardis not included.

Well, there you have it.

Next month Sew Technicolor and I will be doing knit-a-long! We will both be knitting cardigans. Kristin will be knitting Lady Marple, and I will be knitting Chocolate Stout. If you are so inclined, please feel free to join us on our journey. We can always use a few more yarn crazies, I mean, enthusiasts over here....the theme is the one with the most yarn wins, err, I mean, to challenge yourself to learn something new, rather it be to knit a hat or even leggings for your pet lizard.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Since I've been posting meals recently for the ideal protein diet, I'd thought I'd explain what it is and how it works.

The ideal protein diet is a doctor assisted diet program that, over four stages, helps you loose weight. Because you basically drop all carbs and sugar from your diet you shouldn't do this diet by yourself!

All the information I'm about to share with you is also available at the Ideal Protein website.

we eat a lot of this

Right now my husband and I are in phase one. On phase one you can eat 8 oz of chicken a day and four cups of vegetables of your choice, as well as a protein shake for breakfast and one snack between meals. However, the only things you can eat are:

Asparagus

Arugula

Bell Peppers

Broccoli

Bean Sprouts

Collards

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Bok Choy

Celery

Green Onions

Pickles

Cucumber

Kale

Mushrooms

Okra

Onion (only uncooked)

Spicy Peppers

Radish

Rhubarb

Rutabaga

Spinach

Chard

Turnip

Zucchini

If eating a salad, you can use some types of Italian dressing or any other no sugar, no carb dressing. You can also only cook with garlic, soya sauce, ginger, apple cider vinegar, lemon, coconut oil, olive oil or hot sauce.

To put it mildly this is a very intense diet! Every food not on this list must be zero carbs, zero fat and zero sugar if my husband wants to deviate. I have not found much that we can substitute.

Oh, and twice a week my husband can have with one of these: tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, palm hearts.

This is just phase one, and lasts for about six weeks. (Everyone's phases last different amounts of time depending on what their doctor says) Anyway, I'm really excited for phase two because it adds fruit and dairy and exercise!

Friday, February 14, 2014

My newest knit item is a fox scarf! I love foxes (yes how original I know...) but, I actually do like them. So, I designed a cabled fox scarf for fun and comfort!

You can download the pdf to knit this scarf for free on Ravelry. I also might add a few to the shop, I'm not sure right now. I've made three so far, testing out the kinks in my pattern, and they are super fun to work on. And easy, because I designed the pattern I don't have to concentrate as hard when knitting.

As this is the first animal item I've knit, I'm pretty proud of myself! Next, moose scarf? Or perhaps an aardvark?

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

So, abortion. Hot topic. Everyone wants to get a word in. I hear
people shouting about freedom of choice and people shouting about lives
and murder, but honestly, we are missing the bigger picture here.

The picture of morals. You see, my morals define my beliefs. So if I am for abortion and you are against, and
you are trying to tell me how wrong I am by listing off facts and
showing me charts or throwing a bible at me, you will get nowhere.
Because the reason I believe what I believe is because of my morals: how
I view the world. Same goes for you, right?

So what I am trying to do in this blog post is show you that the two sides will never agree because the foundations they are standing on are worlds apart. (But that does not,
under any circumstances, give any person on either side the right to
act like a spoiled three year old and throw a tantrum in the other
person's face. We are all adults here.) I desperately want to
show that instead of one side showing traumatized rape victims while
touting the repression of women and extolling "their right to choose" in
the face of the other side, whoarethemselves
waving flags with "right to life" and speaking of a living human that is
growing in a woman's womb, and it's right to grow up, breathe air, and
exist--instead of all this rabble that really leads to nowhere but
anger--we should be having an ethics discussion.

Let
me explain. I am a Christian. This is a loaded word, and it means
several things at once on a lot of separate levels. In regards specially
to abortion, Christian people believe:

You only get one life. When you die you go to heaven or hell.

At some point during pregnancy the baby is given a soul. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

Life starts at conception, the moment a sperm joins an egg. (Isaiah 44:24)

Every life is precious and worth saving.

Now,
since Christians believe you only have one life (no reincarnation) and
they believe that at some point during conception you are given a soul,
then to them terminating a pregnancy is wrong, and this is why many
Christians stand up against abortion. This does not mean we are judging
anyone who has had an abortion. This does not mean we hate women or want
to enslave them or force them to give birth to their baby that, sadly,
was formed during rape. It just means we think life starts at conception
and we want to preserve life because life is precious and you only get one life. We believe those babies only get one life. Does understanding this help you understand better why many are Pro-life? I hope so! Because what I believe about abortion didn't just fall out of the sky--I didn't just wake up one day and roll over and go, hhrmm, I think I'll be pro-life toady. No,
it's ingrained in my moral framework right up there with loving my
neighbor and attending church and trying to the best of my ability to
follow God.The
same is true for the other side, of course. One of my friends believes
in reincarnation. To her, we all get reborn again, so whats the big deal
with abortion? The baby is attached to a women's body. The women has
control over her own body, right? Further, she does not believe in a
"soul". To my friend, life begins at birth, when the baby is no longer
attached to it's mother. To her, abortion is just a medical procedure
where a women gets rid of something that she either can't afford,
accidentally created during consensual sex, or was sadly a product of
forced rape. To her, a baby in the womb is not alive, it is just a mass
of cells with the potential to be alive, and thus flushing it out causes
no harm. So no wonder she is totally fine with abortion. I mean, from her standpoint it makes perfect sense, doesn't it?Furthermore,
in order to make her change her mind, I would have to introduce her not
only to the idea that a fetus is alive, but to the whole moral
framework attached to that. I would have to change her entire
foundational belief system in order to get her to see my argument.
Telling her about DNA, baby heartbeats, brainwaves--speaking to her
about how life isn't about what she wants, but rather what she can do
for God--explaining to her that abortion is selfish, that it's putting
her life above another-- none of that will reach her because her morals
are altogether different then mine.

But there is something I can do.I can be her friend. And she can be mine. If
we understand our differences they can bring us together. I've never
had an angry discussion about abortion because I won't attack another
person's choices. Because I understand what they are saying comes not
from their inability to see right from wrong--but comes from their
morals. So. Even if you don't agree with me, lets be friends, okay?

Monday, February 10, 2014

I knit this infinity scarf the other day. It was a really quick knit, only taking a few hours on my 24 inch circular needles.

I created this for my etsy shop. The bright colors really helped cheer me up as I was knitting, and I love watching the rainbow form! One funny thing: this was my first time knitting with silk. And no one told me silk can smell really, really funny (and awful) when you get it wet. I thought I might have ruined my scarf more then once! But the smell went away after it dried, thank goodness. And my knitting friends say this is normal--that silk can smell funny.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

My husband and I are thus far enjoying our foray into experimental healthy eating. I'm learning to be really, really creative. I'm also learning that cauliflower is amazing. Because you can use it for anything. Anyway, this is the next meal I created for my husband and I using the ideal protein allowed food list. It is a phase one meal--and it was good!

This is really a meal in three parts, consisting of baked chicken with a side of cauliflower "fries" and stir-fried bok choy. The instructions tell you how to create a dinner for two, using the ideal protein servings.

If you are making all of the dishes, you need to start with the cauliflower. It takes an hour to bake.

Cauliflower "Fries"

(actually tasted just like french fries. Not kidding)

Use two cups of cauliflower, and preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chop your cauliflower into thumb sized pieces. Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil into a bowl, and add your cauliflower and a sizable dash of your favorite seasoning. I used something called "garlic and herb spice" but whatever seasoning you happen to have on hand should work.

my cauliflower after seasoning but before cooking

Mix until well covered, then arrange on a baking pan. This cooks for one hour, but set your timer for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes you will put the chicken in the oven.

Italian Chicken

Prep your chicken by cutting off any fat. I'm making chicken breasts, 8 ounces each. Mine take 45min to cook all the way through, make sure you add more time if you have bigger servings. (and pleasae use a meat thermometer at the end to check the internal temperature!)

After washing my chicken, I placed both pieces in a small cooking container and cover it with 1/4 cup of Italian dressing. You want to cook in a small container so the chicken is submerged, and cover your pan with a lid or foil.

Place your chicken in the oven and set your timer for another 15 minutes. When this timer goes off, flip your cauliflower so the bottom side is facing up, and set your timer again for the last 30 minutes.

10-15 minutes before your timer goes off we are going to make the...

Bok Choy with Mushrooms and Kale

I used one cup of bok choy, and half a cup of mushrooms and a half cup of kale

Mince some garlic (I used one table spoon of minced fresh garlic) and wash your bok choy and kale, tearing/ or cutting it into 4 inch pieces. Remove all the green parts of the bok choy from the white stems, and cut the stems in half. Now, heat your skillet up for one minute with a tablespoon of coconut oil.

cooking away, 2 minutes until done.

Add the white ends of the bok choy first (they take longer to cook then all the rest) and stir-fry for 5-6 minutes until they start to turn sort of clear. Then add your mushrooms, cook for another 2 minutes before adding in the kale and bok choy leaves. Cook for 2-3 minutes until tender but still a little firm.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

If you know me in real life, you might know that my favorite word is pineapple. I've been interjecting it randomly into conversations since high school! And, it was one of the first text messages I sent to my husband, when we first started dating.

So, naturally, I had to knit myself some pineapple gloves. Fingerless gloves, of course, so my digits are still free for iPhone use.

I love them! They are royal purple, yellow, and green, 100% wool and super comfortable! Not to mention totally stylish!

I made a PDF pattern that can be downloaded for 2.99 on Raverly if you would like to knit some yourself. Can't knit? You can buy a finished pair for 20$ in my Etsy shop!

Disclosure

Carolynn Markey is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.